The 1980 Listening Post - The Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue

 Reviewed by Jon Rosenberg

Released: June 20 1980 The Rolling Stones Emotional Rescue Genre: Rock Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Jon’s Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Highlights: Emotional Rescue She’s So Cold Send It to Me Indian Girl The Stones hit their 80’s! No, wait. I meant to say the Stones hit THE 80’s. Only Bill Wyman has yet hit the eight decade mark. Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Ronnie are still firmly ensconced in their ‘70’s. And so is this record. When “Emotional Rescue” came out in the summer of 1980, it was an immediate hit. You could not get through a day without hearing the title track or “She’s So Cold” on the radio. I’m not going to try to convince anyone that these are great songs, but they both infiltrated my psyche at a young age and always bring a smile to my face. “Emotional Rescue,” the song, is basically the Stones taking another stab at disco (full disclosure: I kinda like disco) the way they did on their previous album with “Miss You.” Clearly, all that time Mick was spending at Studio 54 was taking its toll. Not much guitar action happening here, but Bill and Charlie’s tight rhythm section keep things chugging. Mick’s falsetto vocals are a bit off-putting, and things get even weirder when he switches back to his regular voice to intone “I will be your knight in shining arrrrr-mor, coming to your eee-motional resc-yoo.” It’s ridiculous, but I love it. “She’s So Cold” is a more traditional Stones song: an old-school rock and roll boogie with goofy (perhaps slightly misogynistic?) lyrics about not being able to get laid. Mick still can’t get no satisfaction! In a similar vein, “Send It to Me” is a reggae-tinged paean to mail-order brides. Or prostitutes, I’m not quite sure. But the groove is bouncy and fun, and that’s good enough. The real surprise is “Indian Girl,” which on the surface seems like a sweet love ballad to a Native American woman. The song has a light, Latin vibe to it, but when you pay attention to the lyrics, all of a sudden you realize it’s a song about American imperialism in Central and South America! Slightly deeper than the opener “Dance – Part 1.” Then again, don’t forget that this is the band who gave us “Street Fighting Man” and “Gimme Shelter.” The rest of the album is fine. Nothing special. Second-rate Stones, to be sure. But even second-rate Stones is better than a lot of other bands’ first-rate material.

The 1981 Listening Post - The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You

 The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You

#365

By Jon Rosenberg

The Rolling Stones

Tattoo You

Genre: Rock

Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Jon’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Highlights:

Waiting on a Friend

Slave

Little T&A

Start Me Up

Hang Fire

My rating: 4

Only “The World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band” could cobble together a bunch of outtakes and unfinished songs and emerge with one of their best albums.  And that is exactly what The Stones did with Tattoo You.  It’s a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that some of these tunes were nearly a decade old by the time they saw the light of day.  Besides the current Stones lineup at the time, many additional musicians play on the tracks, including Mick Taylor on guitar, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Billy Preston on keyboards, and jazz great Sonny Rollins on sax.

Tattoo You gave the Stones three of their most enduring latter-day hits.  You know the ones I’m talking about: “Start Me Up,” “Hang Fire,” and “Waiting on a Friend.” Not much more I can say about these tunes that hasn’t already been said.

But in addition to these great hits, there are several fabulous “deep cuts” (as they used to call them back in the days when rock radio was still a thing.)  The best is “Slave,” one of the Stones’ raunchiest, funkiest grooves with a killer Sonny Rollins solo.  Lyrically there’s not much going on besides “Don’t wanna be your slave” repeated endlessly, but somehow you know exactly what Mick’s singing about.   Apparently, the working title was “Vagina.”  Another highlight is Keith’s ode to groupies, “Little T&A.” It’s everything you expect from a rifftastic Stones song: sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.  Maybe a little casual misogyny.  And for those who like their Stones bluesy, you can’t beat “Black Limousine,” which features Sugar Blue (of “Miss You” fame) wailing on harmonica.

While it is quite amazing how cohesive this album feels, despite the “odds and sods” nature of the recordings, it falls just short of classic status.  But even a “contractual obligation” from The Rolling Stones is a damn good time!

https://open.spotify.com/album/15XNBzVWARPMlu0sEbfBjJ?si=ZqyAKMyrQr6TFJB10nUPiQ

The 1986 Listening Post - The Rolling Stones - Dirty Work

The Rolling Stones - Dirty Work

#98/1265

March 24 1986

The Rolling Stones

Dirty Work

Genre: Rock

4 out of 5

Highlights:

One Hit (to the Body)

Fight

Harlem Shuffle

I was in Vancouver, staying at the company loft in Yaletown about 8 years ago. It was one of those rainy weeks in Canada where everything is grey and yet, gorgeous because even the way the grey reflects off the glass buildings is clean and crisp. 

I only had the opportunity to stay at the loft a few times and this one found me with a ton of down time. 

For a while I used the open space to rehearse my one man show but, that can only fill up so many hours of a rainy day. 

And that’s when I decided to listen to as much Rolling Stones as I could. I was going to start another Listening Post retrospective and they were to be the subject. 

I never got around to writing up my thought but, holy hell what a treat that was. 

See, I avoided the Stones in my younger days as I was always just trying to catch up on what was new and I never had the time plus they were one of those bands. You know…the pillars of rock. How could they ever live up to the hype?

omg, they lived up to the hype. I think we all agree that there were some hiccups in the early 70s but I blew past them and, before I knew it, I had to get to work and then never got back to writing about them. 

I liked this record. I even liked the latter-day Clash dub redux of “Too Rude”. It reminded me of everything liked about Black Market Clash and having it produced by Steve Lillywhite made it just that much better.

The 1985 Listening Post - Mick Jagger - She's the Boss

Mick Jagger - She's the Boss

#45

February 19 1985

Mick Jagger

She’s the Boss

Genre: Rock?

2.25 out of 5

Why is this so muddy? Why can’t anyone produce Jagger or the Stones right? Everything sounds like it was recorded in an old studio in one take by excellent musicians who really need a better mixing board. 

Just looking at the list of musicians…it’s a murderer’s row of brilliance…all to support Mick Jagger so he can sound like…The Rolling Stones?

The biggest problem with this record is it has no sense of urgency. It sounds like what it is: a record made by a millionaire doing whatever he wants, with no pressure to succeed, playing with house money. 

I know “Just Another Night” was a hit but, come on, it’s really not that good. Let’s all just agree in that, right?

I had “Lucky in Love” as a highlight for a while but…that song is 3 hours long…jeez. 

Why is the back cover a picture of Mick leaning over to change a tv channel from Wheel of Fortune? How is that the choice?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frQLxn0uOD8

The 1983 Listening Post - The Rolling Stones - Undercover

The Rolling Stones - Undercover

November 7, 1983
The Rolling Stones
Undercover
3.5 out of 5

Highlights:
Undercover of the Night
She Was Hot

A few years ago I started to do a Listening Post of the Rolling Stones. I had never really heard anything beyond the hits. What I discovered was, holy shit, for a long long time these guys were so much better than I was expecting. A lot of my jaundice came from just how popular and staid they were in rock’s lexicon.
I never wrote about them. I just kept enjoying them.
This album starts off with a bang, man. So much so that I think we are just continuing the Tattoo You/Some Girls success (I liked Emotional Rescue but it wasn’t anywhere near those two).
I even like the “Shattered” redux, “Wanna Hold You” despite Keef’s vocals.
The rest is middling filler. Which might’ve been a good name for this record.